PAP devices are designed for portable use and aid in the treatment of sleep apnea. Using pressurized air delivered through, for example, a face-mask, they force a patient's airways open, allowing unobstructed breathing during sleep.
In addition to delivering pressurized gas into one or more of the patient's airways, PAP devices can be connected to or otherwise provided to other useful accessories, such as a humidifier. The humidifier can even be included as a part of the device. For example, it can be provided in the form of a small chamber housed therein. In either case, the humidifier typically includes a supply of water (e.g., up several hundred milliliters).
While such a combination is convenient for the patient, it does suffer from some potential drawbacks. For example, the tube by which the humidified gas is provided to the patient is also in communication with the fan or blower motor, either directly or indirectly. Unfortunately, the fan or blower is typically not waterproof, and if too much moisture or water contacts the fan or blower motor, some or all of the PAP device can be destroyed and/or a short circuit can occur. Since the humidifier and motor often communicate through the same air passageway, this backspill is a regularly occurring problem.
In normal, intended use, such arrangements do not present a problem, as the device is designed such that water from the humidifier chamber does not flow back down the air passageway and into the fan or blower housing. Problems arise, for example, when the device is turned off and being transported from one place to another. The person carrying the machine may not even be aware of a need to keep it oriented in a certain position, or they may not be aware that water has a potential to leak or splash from the humidifier into the fan motor. If the machine is improperly or carelessly carried and backspill water reaches the fan motor, when the machine is next activated, the motor may short out or be destroyed entirely, resulting in a costly repair bill or perhaps the need to replace the entire device.
The exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementations herein provide a device which can be fit within a PAP device and which prevents such a backspill from occurring by sealing the air passageway when the machine is turned off for transportation.
According to one exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementation, a first magnet is housed within a chamber and has a magnetic field oriented substantially towards a hollow center thereof and an outer edge thereof. A solenoid interfaces with the hollow center of the magnet and is further provided with a backspill stop that includes some amount of magnetically attractable material. One or more second magnets are also provided to the housing, having magnetic fields directed towards the backspill stop. The second magnets are situated generally near the outside of an opening in the housing, and the magnets function to hold the backspill stop in place against the housing, blocking the opening. When the solenoid is activated, it interacts with the radial magnetic field of the first magnet to pull the backspill stop away from the opening as the solenoid is drawn through the magnetic field in a direction away from the opening.
In a further exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementation, the solenoid/backspill stop combination is built into a PAP or other device as part of the assembly process thereof (e.g., it is a part of the air passageway, housed in a chamber larger than the passageway that it is intended to restrict). In another exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementation, the solenoid/backspill stop combination is housed in a connecting piece that can be inserted between two passageways at a desired location.
In still another exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementation, other controllable backspill prevention mechanisms are used to block and unblock a passageway in a PAP device. These exemplary backspill prevention implementations allow air passage in a first position and block the passageway in a second position.
Other aspects, features, and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this disclosure and which illustrate, by way of example, principles of this invention.